Dry and flexible elastomer electrodes outperform similar hydrogel and Ag/AgCl electrodes

Dry and flexible electrodes were prepared by using an electrically conductive silicone elastomer containing silver fillers, patent pending. The conductive silicone elastomers have been known to exhibit sufficiently low electrical resistivity for measurement of biological signals. The aim of this study was to characterize the dry silicone elastomer electrode with respect to the impedance of the electrode-skin interface, and to compare it with commercially available surface stimulating electrodes. With the exception of one electrode, the dry silver-filled silicone electrodes surpassed the traditional hydrogel and pre-gelled silver/silver chloride electrodes of the same size and composition and exhibited lower skin-to-electrode impedance at low frequency ranges.